North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora gave his account Monday of the now-infamous Shakeel Rashad-Conner Vernon collision during Saturday’s game at Wallace-Wade Stadium.

Rashad

Not surprisingly, he defended his player. He also took the high ground on a hit two plays later that resulted in an injury to Tar Heels defensive lineman Tim Jackson.

The incident involving Rashad and Vernon happened early in the second quarter of the Blue Devils’ 33-30 victory, as the Tar Heels tried to make a quick substitution against Duke’s no-huddle offense.

Shakeel, a freshman linebacker, came off the bench on the Duke side of the line of scrimmage and made contact with Vernon as he passed behind the All-ACC wide receiver. Stunned by the blind side hit, Vernon fell to the ground in pain and was tended to by trainers. He returned to action two plays later and led his team with six catches for 124 yards.

“They were in a hurry-up mode,” Fedora said at his weekly Monday press conference. “(Rashad) should have already been out there and as he’s scrambling. He’s running out on the field and the receiver takes a couple of steps and he kind of gets into him before he thought he was going to get into him.

“He started to turn his shoulder and ran into the guy. There was no intention whatsoever on his part, I assure you, to run into the guy.”

Nothing was called on the field, but the ACC is reviewing the play and will determine if any penalties should result from the incident.

Fedora

After reviewing the tape, Fedora said he doesn’t think anything should come of it.

“I’ve looked at it very closely,” he said. “It happened basically the way I though it happened on the field.

“First of all, you’ve got to know Rashad. He’s one of the nicest kids we have on our football team. I assure you there was no intention of harming the other player. Actually, there was no intention on his part to run into him.”

As with any story, there are two sides to this one. And not surprisingly, Duke coach David Cutcliffe saw the play a bit differently.

“It was full speed and there was no intent to avoid,” he said during his Sunday teleconference. “We were going to turn it in but we understand now that the conference office is looking at it, and I’ll be interested to see what they say.

“People have seen it, you’ve seen it on television, I’ve just never seen anything quite like it. I was amazed when I saw that this morning. I don’t know. I’m kind of speechless about it. I’ve never had that happen in my entire career. Very unusual.”

Adding to the intrigue is what happened two plays later.

In the process of blocking Jackson on the opposite side of the field from the ball, Duke center Brian Moore fell to the ground and rolled into the UNC defender’s legs. Jackson suffered an injury and will be sidelined for at least two weeks.

Jackson

So was it coincidence that the play happened so soon after the previous incident or was it retaliation for Rashad’s hit on Vernon?

At least publicly, Fedora is leaning toward the first option.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “It was away from the play. I’m sure that the guy had no intention to harm him, either. But as the play was ending, he cut the guy and it put him out for 2-3 weeks.”

Fedora suggested that the tape of the play has also been sent to the ACC for review.

“Anything we think was a questionable call or something we would like them to take a look at, we send in,” he said. “We sent in quite a few plays.”